The Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse

The first question, naturally, is what shall I call him? If this blog is about not being silent any longer, than it seems natural that I should just use his name. After all that he did to me it seems fair that I should give him credit. Too, I think there would be a certain stigma attached to his name that would only be just. It would be cathartic for me as well. I would no longer be afraid just at the thought of his name. There it is. In black and white. For all the world to see. Your biggest secret is out.

But I am not that brave yet. He still has power over me. He will, of course, deny everything. Which would make me question my newly found strength. Of course he did it, right? Words are failing me. My mind wanders, does not wish to deal with what I'm writing about. It is only natural. Defense mechanisms of 35 years are hard to over come.

There are also legal considerations. The is no way to prove what he did, not after 35 years. If I name him, he could easily sue me and win (not that I have that much he could take). When I first started having flashbacks ten years ago I found that the statute of limitations had run out on his crimes. The State, the legal system, protects him now as my silence did before. If he sues, the State will not only protect him but reward him. It is an insane system.

As to the naming question, I could just call him Dick, or Shorty (sadly not true). But I think instead I will adopt the convention of just using his first initial. That way, should he ever come across this blog, he will know that I am taking about him and he can worry that some day I will write out his name. For now then, he is simply W***.

I hope some day to have the courage to spell out his name.
------------------------------
From the blog "I am a Survivor"

I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, rape, beatings and torture. From the age of six to 15 I survived a nightmares. I intend here to recapture what was taken from me and try to help other survivors along the way.

About a year ago, a woman in her mid-30s came to see me about a problem that seemed innocuous enough: She was having trouble with her boyfriend and wasn't sure that her relationship was going to last much longer. As soon as we began our work together, I recognized the cavalcade of psychological and emotional guards she'd erected over the years in response to the sickening sexual abuse she'd endured as a child at the hands of a depraved uncle.

Kanakuk Kamps, a Branson-based Christian sports camp network that draws thousands of youths every summer — many from the Kansas City area — is facing two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by a former director.

One lawsuit, filed in Taney County, alleges former director Peter D. Newman molested a teen from 2000 to 2005, beginning when the boy was 13. The second case, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges Newman sexually abused a camper from 2001 through 2007, beginning when the boy was 10. Two similar lawsuits, both filed in 2011, were settled this year.

Newman is serving a lengthy prison sentence for sexually abusing numerous boys during the decade that he held a supervisory position at the camp.

The lawsuits allege camp officials knew about the man's troubling behavior, including swimming and riding four-wheelers in the nude with campers, but failed to remove him or keep him away from children.

Last week, in an impassioned speech delivered form the floor of the Irish parliament, Prime Minister Enda Kenny offered some hard sayings [1] about the Vatican's handling of clergy sexual abuse in Ireland. Kenny said that the recent report [2] on the scandal in Cloyne "excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day." So much for Joyce's "Ireland my first and only love / Where Christ and Caesar are hand and glove!"

The Cloyne report examines the diocese's handling of abuse allegations between January 1, 1996, the year Irish bishops established procedures for dealing with abuse claims, and February 1, 2009 — well after the institutional church came to realize the gravity of such crimes. According to the report, two-thirds of allegations during that period were not forwarded to the police, as required by the Irish bishops' own '96 guidelines.